[squirt]

many Christians are unaware that skeptics have been asserting for a long time that Nazareth never existed during the time when the New Testament says Jesus spent his childhood there, in an article called, "Where Jesus Never Walked", atheist Frank Zindler noted that Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, by the apostle Paul, by the Talmud (although 63 other Galilean towns are cited), or by Josephus (who listed 45 other villages and cities of Galilee, including Japha, which was located just over a mile from present day Nazareth), no ancient historians or geographers mention Nazareth before the beginning of the 4th century, the name first appears in Jewish literature in a poem written about the 7th century AD, this absense of evidence paints a suspicious picture, is there any archaeological confirmation that Nazareth was in existence during the 1st century? Dr James Strange of the University of South Florida is an expert on this area, and he describes Nazareth as being a very small place, about 60 acres, with a maximum population of about 480 at the beginning of the 1st century, Strange notes that when Jerusalem fell in AD 70, priests were no longer needed in the temple because it had been destroyed, so they were sent out to various other locations, even up into Galilee, archaeologists have found a list in Aramaic describing the 24 'courses', or families, of priests who were relocated, and one of them was registered as having been moved to Nazareth, that shows that this tiny village must have been there at the time, in addition, he said there have been archaeological digs that have uncovered 1st century tombs in the vicinity of Nazareth, which would establish the village's limits because by Jewish law burials had to take place outside the town proper, 2 tombs contained objects such as pottery, lamps, glass vessels and vases from the 1st, 3rd and 4th centuries, in a book by renowned archaeologist Jack Finegan, published by Princeton University Press, he says, "From the tombs ... it can be concluded that Nazareth was a strongly Jewish settlement in the Roman period." there has been discussion about the location of some sites from the first century, such as exactly where Jesus' tomb is situated, but among archaeologists there has never really been a big doubt about the location of Nazareth, the burden of proof ought to be on those who doubt it's existance, even the usually skeptical Ian Wilson, citing pre-Christian remains found in 1955 under the Church of the Annunciation in present day Nazareth, has managed to concede, "Such findings suggest that Nazareth may have existed in Jesus' time, but there is no doubt that it must have been a very small and insignificant place." so insignificant that Nathanael's musings in John 1:46 now make more sense: "Nazareth! he said. "Can anything good come from there?"